MISSOULA - The City of Missoula has been working with community partners for more than a year, thinking about how they can improve the traffic situation along Higgins Avenue.
The Higgins Corridor Plan — which was released last week — stretches from Brooks to Broadway. Higgins is four lanes and whenever someone wants to turn left, the cars behind them get stuck or cause an accident.
City officials hope that the plan — which calls for reducing the lanes to one each way, with a turning lane in the middle — will make everyone safer. A bonus of this is that they'll have the room to add raised bike lanes on either side of the road.
When MTN News first brought you this plan last week, we saw a lot of comments on our social media pages from people worried that this plan will exacerbate rush hour traffic jams.
Planners say the maximum delay from Brooks all the way to Broadway would be about 50 to 140 seconds longer. We talked with planner Aaron Wilson back in the Spring, who said this plan is the best way to encourage sustainable transportation and reduce accidents.
"We want to address the safety. That's our number one concern. We want to make sure it is safe and accessible for everyone, regardless of the mode they are choosing. We want to make sure that it is accessible for driving, biking, walking, and transit."
The first of two public presentations this week where the public can comment on the Higgins Corridor was held on Monday evening. A lunchtime presentation will be held online on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 12 p.m.
People are encouraged to visit the Engage Missoula page to view the virtual open house and provide feedback via the survey. Questions and comments can also be submitted to the project team by emailing kristine@bigskypublicrelations.com.
